Pour about two inches vegetable oil into the pan and place it on med-high heat. Allow the oil to get good and hot. While your oil is warming remove the biscuits from the container and place on the counter or a cutting board. Use a small round cookie cutter to cut out the hole in the center. (I actually used the back end of a large icing tip) Save the centers for donut holes. Once your oil is nice and warm drop in one of your donut holes to test it. It should turn a light golden brown. Use your tongs to roll it so it’s evenly browned. Once evenly browned remove to a plate lined with paper towels. To cook the donuts drop them into the grease one at a time. My pan would hold about 4 donuts per batch. You don’t want them to be crowded. Once the donuts are a light golden brown flip them with your tongs. Remove to paper lined plate once browned on both sides. After you’ve cooked all of your donuts and holes you can top them how ever you like.

I used a bit of powdered sugar mixed with milk for some of mine. For the others I brushed the tops lightly with some melted butter and dipped them into a cinnamon sugar mixture.

I think these would also be delicious dusted with powdered sugar or topped with chocolate ganache.

I almost had it ready to publish and the more I thought about it I just couldn’t.

I need to talk about something else today.

You may have noticed that some of your favorite blogs and websites aren’t up.

They’ve gone black.

You can read about it here and here and I’m sure many other places around the web.

This is all in protest of an online piracy bill. SOPA.

I’m not that tech savvy so instead of taking my site down for the day (and fearing I may not be able to bring it back) I though I’d take the opportunity to add my two cents about this bill.

Youtube videos like this one are easily found with a simple SOPA search and offer some easy to understand explanations.

What is SOPA?

SOPA stands for Stop Online Piracy Act. It is the sibling bill to PIPA, which is the Protect IP Act.

These bills are written in a way that makes them basically look good on the surface. On the surface they want to wipe out online piracy sites that offer illegal downloads of media such as music, software, videos, etc.

The scarey part is this opens the door for ANY site to be shut down even if the person is doing noting wrong.

This week a major cookbook publisher issued a demand to our server company to take down a recipe alleging we were infringing with one of their books. We were forced to take down the page while we appealed this baseless attack on us. Not only was the recipe significantly different, but recipes aren’t even copyrightable under US law. All we did was referenced the author and the book that we used to help us develop our recipe. This is perfectly legal and what all cookbook authors do. But that didn’t matter, we are guilty until proven innocent. We have appealed and expect to have the recipe back up this week, but this was a huge wake up call for us and it should be for all of you.

With SOPA/PIPA it wouldn’t have just been the one recipe that was taken down. The ENTIRE SITE would have been taken down. It would have cost them time and money to appeal the governments decision.

For most of us who blog, we are NOT million dollar corporations. We do not have the funds or resources to fight if our sites are taken down unfairly.

If this bill is allowed to pass it could truly change the internet and our freedoms of speech as we know them.

The most recent news is that the White House reaction to SOPA has tabled it, but there’s no reason why it can’t pop up again with a different name or a couple of simple changes and it would pass through silently.

Please go to house.gov. Enter your zip code. Find your representative. Let them know how you fill about this bill.

Before beginning wipe down the bowl, whisk attachment, and spatula you are using with white vinegar. This removes any residual grease that could affect your meringues.

In a stand mixer use the whisk attachment to whip the egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tarter, vanilla, and salt. With mixer turned to high gradually add sugars. Whisk until all of the sugar is mixed in and shiny stiff peaks have formed.

If you want your meringues to be a deeper red fill fee to tint with food coloring.

Pipe in dollops onto lined baking sheets. Bake for 1 hour or until meringues are dry to the touch. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Pre-heat oven to 350. Prepare 2 8x3in round pans. Cream the butter, sugar, and Jell-O until fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks on at a time until well incorporated. Alternately add the flour and milk, ending with the flour. Mix in the almond extract. Stir in ground pistachios. In a separate bowl whip the egg whites, not to stiff. Fold whites into batter, being careful not to over mix. Divide between pans. Bake approximately 20 minutes or until pick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans. Allow cakes to cool completely before frosting. If desired split each layer in half creating a total of 4 layers.

Using the Kitchen Aid wipe down the bowl, whisk attachment, and a rubber spatula with white vinegar to remove any grease. To the bowl add egg whites and sugar. Place bowl over a pot of simmering water. Do not allow the bottom of the bowl to touch the water. Simmer until the temperate on a candy thermometer reaches 160 degrees. Remove bowl from heat and place onto mixer. Whip until thick, glossy, and cooled. Switch to the paddle attachment and set mixer to medium. Add butter in small cubes. Continue to whip on medium. Mixture will begin to look curdled, but will come back together after whipping. Add vanilla, melted chocolate, and food coloring. Use to frost cooled cake.